Foster wary of Bulls' pace

Running the beefy Bulls pack "off their feet" is not necessarily the way to go for the Chiefs in their next Super 12 rugby assignment in South Africa, according to coach Ian Foster.

The Chiefs are preparing at a low altitude training base in South Africa to take on the powerful Bulls' tight five at high altitude in Pretoria on Sunday morning (NZ time).

But Foster said today from Nelspruit -- about three hours by bus from Pretoria -- they were not getting carried away with a wide-ranging attack plan using their back three to counter the Bulls' obvious set-piece strengths.

The Bulls are sitting two points above the Chiefs in seventh place on the Super 12 standings and remain South Africa's only real remaining hope of making the playoffs.

They are two games into a final six-game run in South Africa that sees them stray from their home ground of Securicor Loftus just once.

After wins over the Crusaders and Reds in the past two weeks, including a total demolition of the Reds' scrum, their fans are in a confident mood.

The Chiefs are also coming off two big wins that have turned their season around but are now on the road and Foster believes it would be a mistake to underestimate the mobility of the Bulls.

"They are not a slow team. They play with a high tempo and it seems the altitude teams over here always try and wheel us around in the first 40 (minutes) to suck the oxygen out of us," Foster said.

"We're not going to chuck it wide just for the sake of doing that right from the start. We've got to make sure we don't drift too far away from our gameplan.

"The Bulls have got a powerful scrum -- stronger than that of the two South African teams we have just played -- and a big, physical lineout, so set pieces are a real area of strength for them.

"But we've just got to make sure we scrum smart against them and it comes down to persisting for 80 minutes.

"Against the Cats I think we lost the first two scrums and first three lineouts but then we settled down and overall we came out on top."

Foster said the Bulls presented a formidable challenge to visiting teams after two good home wins.

The Chiefs' injury concerns have eased, with No 8 Steven Bates able to train lightly today.

Bates' knee is still strapped after he tore a hamstring tendon behind it and missed last week's match against the Cats.

Back-up fullback Adrian Cashmore has suffered from a "tight" back since arriving in South Africa but the rest of the team are fit and healthy.

The side to play the Bulls are due to be named on Friday morning (NZ time).

- NZPA